The present invention concerns more precisely a containment system for recovering a hydrocarbon fluid from a leaking device that is situated at the seafloor and that is leaking the hydrocarbon fluid from a well.
Recovering oil that is leaking from an under water oil device is a great problem, especially for oil device that are installed at deep sea floor.
The explosion on the “Deepwater Horizon” platform in the Gulf of Mexico demonstrated how much such a containment system is difficult to control.
One of the main problems was the formation of hydrates that clogged the used containment system.
For example, at a depth of around 1500 meters, the sea water is cold (for example around only 5° C.) and at a high pressure. These environment conditions may transform the sea water and hydrocarbon fluid into hydrates having a quasi-solid phase and which can fill and clogged any cavity.
Hydrates inhibitors like methanol could be injected to avoid hydrate formation. But, the needed quantity of such chemical is huge and inhibitors are also pollution for the environment.
The document US 2011/315233 discloses a containment system that comprises:
a pipe (main conduit) having a lower end positioned above and substantially near the leaking device and an upper end positioned substantially near the sea surface, said pipe conveying a input fluid that is a mix of components, said components comprising at least water, oil, gas, and hydrate,
a treatment facility (tank) fed with the input fluid from the pipe and separating the components of the input fluid.
However, the treatment facility of such containment system is a huge containment tank situated bellow the sea surface. Such tank is difficultly feasible.
Moreover, the flow of input fluid is so big that such simple gravity separator is inefficient.
Hydrates inside such containment system will accumulate inside the tank, and can not dissociate by themselves.